Forced Compliance
"Forced Compliance" (1x02) is the second session of the first chapter of A War On All Sides. In Hasania, four adventurers continue their journey toward understanding the mark they uncovered. Synopsis Our adventure picked up where we last left off, with Crawmi and Freynor speaking to Robben, the guard captain, at the Hall of Arms. As they were discussing, Tyrael, the seemingly powerful mage from The Arcane Conservatory, made his appearance by way of portal. After finding a private location to speak with Robben, Crawmi, and Freynor, Tyrael then brought Ivantar and Ronwe to the location via teleportation magic. The two not-so-gracefully fell face first into the floor. Tyrael discussed with them the nature of the new mark they uncovered, and its connection to Molod, and possibly The Shattering, a cataclysmic event occurring in western Hasania a few years back. He gave Ronwe a sending stone to allow for communication and reporting of any additional information pertaining to the mark or portals. He also gave him a device that allows the possessor to dispel portals with the same signature of that which Tyrael dispelled a day prior. Tyrael warned them not to spread this information, as fear among the populace is a propellant to chaos. He cast zone of truth on the group to ensure he had their word, and then departed. The group, now back together and linked by this now uncovered mark, set forth to continue Ivantar and Ronwe’s mission to speak to Nowhere at the Museum of Peculiarities to follow up on a notice. However, Robben was able to provide some cursory information to assist with this task as he overheard their conversation. With this knowledge, the group spoke to Nowhere, got what information they could (including their reward of 150gp), and set off to the prison to find Fritz who had a connection to the attack that resulted in the theft of the artifact. Meanwhile, Freynor was shape-shifted into a bear and doing his own sniffing about the shop. After heading to prison and being chased by a frustrated Freynor-bear, the group met Oskar. The burly dwarf introduced the group to a frail human guard named Alvar, who arrested Fritz a few weeks back. Alvar led them to Fritz so they could ask him some questions. Crawmi introduced himself and goaded Fritz into divulging his secrets by telling him he would write a song of his conquests. Fritz liked this idea, and after hearing his rousing rendition of a song about Ivantar, he was sold. Fritz told him of his wondrous days eating food, chasing babes, and doing all sorts of skulduggery. He gave crucial information on who the thief is and where he was located, so the group had what they needed, but not before Freynor almost took his arm off with a crab claw. With that behind them, the party went to Murat’s shop, acquired provisions and a newfound nickname in PATSY, took a nights rest, then set off south of town through the Menagerie Woods to find Doomspire Keep. After travelling for some time, they encountered a giant boar and its mate. The little boar was no match for the group, getting sliced through by Ivantar. However, the larger boar almost gored Freynor to death. Despite this, Freynor steeled his will and befriended the creature, willing it to frolic back into the woods from where it came. The party enjoyed a nice break, eating roasted boar and getting to know one another more. They would continue on to Doomspire Keep, where they scouted out a small patrol. The party dispatched of a poor guard silently, by means of charm person and with claws. A second guard would not be so easily swayed, and the party had to draw arms to dispatch of him. In the midst of the confrontation, a nearby tree came to life and battered Ivantar and Freynor to near death! However, Ronwe’s quick thinking and powerful fire spells dispatched of the foul entity (and another, innocent normal tree). The party ran away licking their wounds for the time being, but vowed to return in a short while after recovering. Featured Characters Player Characters * Ivantar * Ronwe * Freynor * Crawmi New * Nowhere * Murat * Oskar Feldston * Alvar Dornik * Fritz McGovern Mentioned * Laramore Degal Inventory Quotations * Fritz McGovern: I took out at least 20 guards! * Ronwe: (Throwing a bag of fiend guts into the field) Meh.